:: VENUS AND MARS - Director Kieron Butler - 80 mins ::
A new feature film shot in Brighton and screening for the first time since its premiere in October at the Hastings Film Festival, Venus and Mars is a funny, heart-warming romance guaranteed to get your Christmas off to a lurvely start.

The path of true love never runs smoothly and for our hero, Dylan, it seems especially bumpy. He is torn between the beautiful and enigmatic Laura and the friendly girl next door, Hayley. In his quest for love, he is advised by an imaginary relationships guru, Dr Danny Sheldon, an astrologer, Reynard Jeffries, his flat-mate and a rather unpleasant dog. So, if love is not in the stars, and not part of a game between the sexes, where can we find it? And how do we hang on to it?

For more information about Venus and Mars, visit: www.venusandmarsthemovie.com

::THE MAN WHO ATE HIMSELF TO DEATH - Director Richard Harris - 15 mins ::
At last, the long-awaited world premiere of this seriously weird short featuring da Vinci, the £1M robot surgeon recently seen in the new James Bond film.

Set in a Britain of the near future, this satire on privatised medicine and TV cookery shows follows the last weeks in the life of Professor Jim Swallow, a leading expert in medical robotics. A reclusive man, Swallow is bitter about a recent divorce and depressed by his work which has been reduced to supervising super-intelligent machines. At home, his only company are the TV Chefs who present the increasingly banal cookery shows to which he is devoted.

Feelings of hopelessness and revenge lead him to devise a bizarre ending to his life which also serves to punish the woman who spurned him. When she finally returns to the ex-marital home in the hope of sorting out the remains of their marriage, she is confronted instead by the remains of her husband who has engineered a macabre surprise to greet her.

For more informtion about this film, visit www.bigbamboo.org.uk